


Wu-nderful Christmas Trees

by orphan_account



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-08
Updated: 2014-11-08
Packaged: 2018-02-24 14:35:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2584889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kris, with the help of Zitao, gets the pleasure of taking over his father's Christmas tree farm for the holidays and he encounters competition from a new farm, ran by the annoying Chanyeol and the possibly murderous Kyungsoo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wu-nderful Christmas Trees

**Author's Note:**

> i have no idea how christmas tree farms work, this is all fiction. also rly rushed, sry ;;

Kris hates being the only child.

He realizes this when he's eight, and his mom's book club has some kind of event where they bring their kids along for a month's worth of meetings, and pick out a children's book to read all together.

Kris was forced. Drug out of his own room by his feet. He liked reading, but the book club was horrendous for an eight year old boy. He had been once before, when his father was on a trip for work and had no one to watch over him, so he had no other choice then. They read too many adult romances and the room they sat in reeked of perfume that gave him a headache.

He was the only boy. The book they chose was about a rabbit princess named Ginger who did nothing but play tea parties with Mary the turtle and Lois the squirrel. It was torture for Kris.

One of his friends' mom was in the club too, so he asked why he didn't have to go.

"Because my little sister went instead," he had answered and from then on Kris wished he had a sister or brother that could do awful things with his parents instead of himself.

He still does, and is reminded of it when his father falls ill and calls Kris when he realizes he has no one to look after his Christmas tree farm.

"I'm sorry to bother you," he says to Kris. "But I don't know how long this'll last. And I need someone there with my trees."

Kris hates that damn Christmas tree farm. It brings back traumatizing childhood memories, like when he was playing around in it and was bit by a snake. Non-poisonous, they discovered when he got to the hospital. His foot did still swell up to the size of a football, though. There was also the time where he was chased by an old lady with a saw around it, but that's an entirely different story.

But he knows how much his father loves the farm. And he really does have no choice, since he is the only one who can look after it.

"I'd love to," he lies.

 

The farm is called "Wu-nderful Christmas Trees". The name itself is enough to make Kris cry. His dad had purchased the farm from some elderly couple when his parents found out they were having Kris, and surprised his mom, who proudly gave the farm it's current name. His parents love to tell the story of buying it, but it confuses the hell out of Kris. Only his parents would celebrate having a child by buying a Christmas tree farm.

It's not shabby, though, and has five acres of trees, mostly fir with some spruce. A tiny, concrete building sits in the front, and fortunately that's where Kris will be spending most of his time at, selling the trees. He's glad he won't be out in the cold too much. A wooden, homemade sign advertising the farm is planted in the yard, near the road. Kris had helped made the sign when he three, drawing sloppy looking Christmas trees on it. He thinks it's time his dad replaces it. It's kind of pathetic to Kris, but they still get a lot of business every year and quite a bit of money.

As he pulls up in front of the farm, he can't help but notice the huge, neon light sign on the other side of the road, directly in front of the farm. The flashing letters are green and red on a black background that spell out CHANMAS TREES. Probably another unfortunate, terrible pun, Kris thinks.

There's a wooden table set up next to the sign, with two men sitting at it, donning elf hats. Kris is embarrassed for them.

"Hey, neighbor!" the taller one calls out loudly, waving wildly as Kris gets out his car.

Usually, he would pretend he didn't hear the guy but the sight of them has caught his interest and he is curious. So, he waves back. "Is that your farm?" he asks.

Tall guy beams. "Yep," he says, taking an arm and waving it behind him. There is probably around only a few dozen trees, if that. Kris wants to laugh. "CHANMAS TREES. Our first season. I'm Chanyeol, and this is my partner, Kyungsoo."

The shorter guy, Kyungsoo, waves with way less enthusiasm. Kris understands.

"I'm Kris. This is my family farm, been around for dozens of generations. Known nationwide," Kris lies. They're barely known citywide. He doesn't know why, but he has a sudden urge to intimidate Chanyeol and his CHANMAS TREES.

"Wow, gonna be tough to beat, huh?" Chanyeol says, winking.

Kris snorts. "Sure," he says, waving a hand goodbye. He turns away from them, headings towards the farm. He didn't have the time to stand in the freezing cold snow and speak with some dumb elves when he had a warm building calling his name.

 

Kris is sitting at the building's counter and reading about the Evolution of Diet in a National Geographic magazine when Zitao the lumberjack arrives, an hour late.

To Kris, Zitao doesn't look like a lumberjack. He usually imagines them as seven feet tall, fat, hairy men that wears plaid and suspenders and carry their axe over their shoulder everywhere they went, whistling the Jingle Bells tune. Zitao is the opposite of that image and looks like a soft marshmallow, with blonde hair and a kitten like mouth, bundled up in his bulky, white jacket. He looks like he has never even seen an axe in his entire life, but he's been working at the farm for four years now.

"I'm sorry, I overslept!" he says, before pausing. "Wait. Kris? Where's Mr. Wu?"

"Sick," Kris replies.

"Sick??" Zitao repeats. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine. It's no big deal. I'll just be running the place this season."

"Oh, okay." Zitao places a hand on his heart, in a relieved manner. He really admires Mr. Wu. "Well, we have any orders yet? Any trees that needs to be chopped down?"

"No. It's a slow day. Might as well sit down." Kris gestures towards the stool next to him. He's distracted from the Evolution of Diet article as Zitao strips his jacket off. He's wearing a black long sleeved shirt underneath it. It shows off his arms nicely, Kris can't help but notice.

It's suddenly getting warm, maybe he should turn the heat down some.

"Did you see the new place across the road?" Zitao interrupts his thoughts as he sits down. "Can you believe they have the nerve to open up right across Mr. Wu's farm?" He shudders like the mere thought of it disgusts him.

Kris laughs dryly. "I'm not worried. They're set up like a six year old's lemonade stand. Did you see those ridiculous hats they're wearing?"

"I dunno," Zitao says. "When I pulled in, they had quite a crowd outside."

"A _crowd_?" Yifan shuts his magazine, and stands to walk towards the window.

Zitao is right. There's a decent sized crowd, some weaving through the small selection of trees and others standing around the table Chanyeol and Kyungsoo still sat at; Chanyeol with a huge, goofy grin and Kyungsoo with a murderous glare.

"What the hell?" Yifan says, grabbing his jacket. How were they getting all that attention so quickly? Was it the giant, flashing sign?

He stomps out, taking long strides with Zitao behind him, struggling to keep up. He marches across the road without looking both ways, and he briefly thanks God that nothing was coming.

As they approach the crowded table, pushing through people and stepping on some kid's toe, he sees that it's filled with different types of Christmas cupcakes, brownies, and cakes. A sign is hanging from the table now, as well, that reads FREE SWEETS.

"What?" Kris spats out.

At that, Chanyeol notices he's there, and looks towards him with his grin. "Oh, hey, neighbor!"

"Don't hey me, what is this?" Kris demands. "You're bribing people with free sweets? Where'd you get these, the grocery store?"

"Actually," Chanyeol says calmly. "All homemade, by Kyungsoo." He proudly pats the smaller man, who nods with solemn confirmation, on the head.

"I spent all weekend making these," he says monotonously.

"That's not fair," Zitao speaks up. "And the flashy sign isn't either. You shouldn't get your business like this."

Chanyeol shrugs. "Sorry, not sorry. We just needed to get our name out there. And you guys shouldn't be worried, right? Since you are so well known nationwide." There's a hint of mockery in his voice.

Kris scoffs. "As if I'd ever be worried about your pathetic business overcoming mine."

The grin finally wipes off of Chanyeol's face. "I'm trying to be nice," he says. "I think you should go tend to your own farm."

"That's what I'll do! C'mon, Zitao," Kris says, grabbing Zitao's hand and turning around. "Also, my stupid pun is better than your's!" He calls over his shoulder is he marches back across the road, checking both ways this time.

"Can you believe them?" he says in disbelief.

"That's what I said earlier," Zitao smiles gently. "Can you release my hand, you're squeezing it a bit too hard."

Kris obeys, though he kind of hates to let go. Zitao's hand is really warm, but he pushes that thought to the back of his head for another time. "I have to figure out a way to get my business back. I am not gonna just sit here and let those smug fuckers take over."

"Your dad's business," Zitao corrects. "I don't remember you ever caring this much about the farm."

Kris shrugs. "I just really dislike people like that," he mumbles. He sits down onto his stool. "Now, I think the first thing we need is a new sign. One even bigger and fancier than Dumbo's. Let's get ideas."

Zitao sighs.

 

One week later, Wu-nderful Christmas Trees has a billboard. It stands tall in front of the farm, with the farm name printed in huge, colorful letters. 25% OFF December 6-December 10 is printed on the bottom, along with an obligatory Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back. There's also a picture of a cartoon Christmas tree, and multicolored lights that hangs around the border. There is no way ANYONE can miss it, Kris thinks.

He looks up at it, proud. This is what happens when you try to mess with him and the Wu farm.

Zitao stands next to him, shaking his head. "We better get our money back in sales. I don't know why I had to pay half when I didn't even want the thing."

"Shh, Zitao, you're gonna ruin my mood."

"Does your father know about this?"

"That's not important right now," Kris says. Of course his dad didn't know. He looks over across the road, where Chanyeol sits at his table, a sour look on his face as he looks up at the billboard, which casts a shadow over his farm. It satisfies Kris.

"Hey, neighbor! Like the new sign?" he calls and Chanyeol scowls. "Where's Kyungsoo?"

"He's got a cold," Chanyeol answers grudgingly.

"Aww, how sad," Kris says with exaggerated sympathy. "I really wanted the both of you to see it. I guess that also means no free sweets for a while, right?"

"This is not over, Wu!" Chanyeol yells, waving a fist in the air.

Kris laughs. "Look at him. Pathetic."

"This is so silly," Zitao says. "Both of you."

"They started it," Kris shrugs. He looks over at the younger boy thoughtfully. "Do you bake?"

Zitao answers with a punch on the shoulder.

 

Kyungsoo comes back near the end of the week, loaded with new sweets. Kris wonders how the hell he managed to bake all of that with a cold. Was he even human? Maybe he was some kind of robot Chanyeol had created.

At least their business has slowed down, and Kris' has came up. He's pretty sure it's the week long 25% discount special. People loves that kind of shit.

Zitao walks in, covered in snow with an axe hanging from his hand. Kris wants to pick the snowflakes from his hair, badly. "Last order of the day, hopefully. My hands are aching."

"We did well today," Kris says, setting his National Geographic down. "I knew that billboard would help. They ain't got nothing on Wu-nderful Christmas Trees."

Zitao stares at him. "I better be getting a bonus this season, since I have to put up with you. I never have this much trouble with Mr. Wu."

"Yeah, yeah, you will." Kris stands. "I think I'm gonna lock up now. We did so good today, closing half an hour earlier won't hurt."

Zitao claps excitedly. Kris finds it cute.

Outside, it's freezing and dark. Snow falls slowly, and the wind blows. Kris' hands shake violently as he locks the door. He hopes they don't have a storm anytime soon.

"So," Zitao says. "What do you do besides the tree farm?"

The sudden question surprises Kris. "Well, I had an English teaching job. But I was laid off recently. Which is half the reason why I told Dad I'd take care of the farm, because on most days I have nothing to do."

"Oh."

"Yeah..." Kris feels slightly awkward. "What about you?"

"Different things," Zitao answers. "Mostly Starbucks. A few book shops."

"Mmm," Kris responds. "Well, I'll see you on Monday." He starts to trudge through the snow, towards his car. He really hates to cut their conversation short, but the extreme cold is getting to him. Plus, there's leftover lasagna at home that is calling his name.

"Wait!" Zitao calls, and Kris pauses, looking back impatiently. "Is tomorrow one of those days where you have nothing to do?"

"...Most likely."

"Wanna go do something?" Zitao asks. "Hot chocolate?"

Kris chokes a bit. He can feel his entire face turning red. He hope it's not noticable. "Sure," he gets out.

He can see Zitao's smile even in the dark. "Great."

The night is still cold, but Kris is starting to feel a bit warmer.

 

They meet at a small, downtown cafe that Zitao chooses, gushing about how phenomenal their hot chocolate is. Kris hopes he's right; he's not that into most hot chocolate.

It's too cold to sit in the outdoor area so they choose a booth right next to the windows. Zitao sits on a side and slides to the window side, patting the space next to him. "Sit," he tells Kris.

It's cramped with the both of them sitting on one side. Zitao's elbow is digging into Kris' ribs, but he doesn't mind because Zitao is also really warm and soft.

"How's the hot chocolate?" he asks after a few moments of silence.

"Good," Kris answers, and it is. Zitao hadn't been exaggerating about it.

It's quiet again, with nothing but the low chatter of the customers around them. It wasn't the awkward kind of quiet, but the nice kind. Kris looks over towards the other boy, who is watching out the window absentmindedly. Christmas lights that are wrapped around the light poles outside twinkle in his eyes. Kris finds it beautiful.

"I love Christmas," Zitao says. "It's such a lovely time."

"Is that why you work at a Christmas tree farm during the holidays?" Kris jokes.

Zitao, mistaking it for an actual question, answers. "Kind of, yes. Plus..." He stops, his voice trailing off.

"I haven't really enjoyed Christmas in a while," Kris says, swirling the baby marshmallows around in his hot chocolate with a spoon. "The whole Santa isn't real thing really ruined it for me. Once you grow up, Christmas loses its magic."

"Not for me," Zitao says. "But is that why you hate the farm?"

"I don't hate the farm. Not anymore," Kris mumbles. "But, I had my reasons. I was bit by a snake there once. Then chased by a woman with a saw. Also, I was kind of jealous of it because it seemed like Dad liked it more than he liked me."

Zitao laughs. It's loud, high pitched, and contagious. Kris likes it. "Seriously?"

"He really loves the farm," Kris chuckles along with him. "I guess that's why I agreed to look after it."

Zitao opens his mouth to say something, but he's interrupted by a little kid in the next booth over pointing out the window and exclaiming, "Mama, look in the sky!"

Kris glances up out the window and nearly spits his hot chocolate all over the glass and Zitao.

The thing in the sky is a dangerously low flying hot air balloon. A sign reading CHANMAS TREES is hanging from the basket, which contains Chanyeol, who is yelling through a bullhorn, and Kyungsoo, who is so short only his eyes can be seen, peering over the edge of the basket with a forlorn look.

"What the actual fuck," Kris says, hastily getting out the booth. Zitao sighs heavily, following behind him.

Once outside, Kris can see that small crowds are forming, enchanted by the spectacle in the sky.

"CHANMAS TREES! 50% OFF MONDAYS, WEDNESDAYS, AND FRIDAYS," Chanyeol says into the bullhorn. "ENJOY FREE HOMEMADE REFRESHMENTS WHILE YOU VISIT."

Kyungsoo starts to throw fistfuls of something down, and Kris is afraid for his life for a moment until he sees that it's just candy. A mini Hershey's hits him in the head. Kids starts to shout, scrambling to grab as much from the ground as they can.

Chanyeol spots Kris in the crowd, and a huge grin spreads across his face. He points towards him, and talks into the bullhorn again. "Hey, Wu! I told you this wasn't over."

Kris is angry, and with every passing second he can feel himself getting even angrier. His vision is literally turning red and his fists are clenched so tight his fingernails dig painfully into his palms.

Next to him, Zitao clears his throat. "Um, please don't tell me we're going to rent a hot air balloon now."

 

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo does end up getting arrested for endangering citizens with the illegal use of a hot air balloon, but on Monday they're back with more business than ever. Their little performance had spread through the county like wildfire. Kris stands at the window of his building, his eyes glued to his binoculars.

"I can't believe they would even face _jail_ in order to steal my customers," he says through clenched teeth. "What's next? Murder? That Kyungsoo acts like he's capable of it."

Zitao, who is sat at the counter, rolls his eyes. This is all he's heard about for the last two days. "Come sit down. Does it really matter? We're getting a few customers. Wu-nderful Christmas Trees is still going strong."

"You're right," Kris says. He forces himself to pull away from the window. "We ARE going strong. But not strong enough." He sits down on his stool, grabbing the pen and sticky note pad from the counter. "We need more ideas."

"NOOO," Zitao moans. "We already paid hundreds of dollars for a billboard! Do we really need-"

"Yes," Kris cuts him off. "We have to fight back against those lunatics. Take your job a bit more seriously, Zitao."

"My job is to cut down the trees. Not go along with your psychotic Christmas Tree competition."

Kris ignores this. "Think about my father. How happy it would make him if we got him tons and tons of sales this season. We only have less than two weeks left."

"Does Mr. Wu even know what's going on?" Zitao asks.

"Shh." Kris takes his pointer fingers and presses them to his temples. "I'm thinking."

Zitao sighs, defeated. "Maybe we can have one of those discount sales again, since our other one's expired."

"Hmm." Kris taps his finger on the counter. "We'll need to upgrade it. 80% sounds good."

"80%?!" Zitao exclaims.

"From now until the season ends!" Kris grins. "Genius."

"No way! That's too much money loss," Zitao says. "I thought 50% was pretty bad, but 80% is outrageous."

Kris glares at him. "Whose Christmas tree farm is this?"

"Your dad's-"

"That's right, and I'm his son," Kris says before continuing excitedly. "And I can get catering. We'll have hot food everyday, right inside this building. Way better than eating those pathetic little brownies outside in the cold."

"Do you know how expensive that's gonna be? How much money you'll lose-"

"Money isn't everything, Zitao," Kris snaps.

Zitao finds that extremely ironic.

 

The 80% off sale and free food event is scheduled to start Thursday, and Kris is excited, which is an understatement. He's making plans to change the billboard as soon as possible, and to have a front page ad to print in the local newspaper. He's even thinking about a buy one get one free sale.

CHANMAS TREES is busy when he pulls up on Wednesday morning. The sight of Chanyeol's never ending grin as he tends to his customers annoys him so much he doesn't even notice Zitao's car is already there.

So he's surprised when he finds the door unlocked, Zitao and... his father sitting on the stools behind the counter.

"Dad?" Kris blinks. "What are you doing here? Are you feeling better?"

"No, Zitao brought me," Mr. Wu answers calmly. "Because he says he's concerned about you and the farm."

Kris feels betrayed. He looks over at Zitao, who stares back solemnly. How could he do this to him?

"He told's me everything," Mr. Wu says. "And enough is enough. I want the billboard down and I want my old sign back up. And I want you to cancel the catering and whatever else you have planned."

"But Dad," Kris starts. "Do you see those crazies across the road? CHANMAS TREES? They're playing dirty and stealing our business!"

Mr. Wu shrugs. "So? Let them."

"But all of those customers, and we're losing so much money-"

"We're losing more money by doing silly things like catering and billboards," Mr. Wu says. "And I don't care about those things. I've never kept the farm for money and such, I've kept it because I enjoy it."

Zitao claps. "See!" he says. "Now, are you going to stop this madness?"

Kris takes a deep breath. "I was just trying to give Wu-nderful Christmas Trees a big name."

"I know, I know," Mr. Wu says. "You meant well. I think it done you good, actually, I've never seen you so passionate about anything before."

Kris feels his face turning red. "I'll stop," he grumbles.

Zitao cheers.

 

The last week of the season goes by painfully slow for Kris. He has the pleasure of watching CHANMAS TREES and their crowds of customers each day, and listening to their brand new firework show each night. He's pretty sure those are illegal as well, and he wonders if he should call the cops or not.

Wu-nderful Christmas Trees' business is doing okay. Nothing amazing, nothing tragic, but it's slow enough for Kris and Zitao to play several of rounds of UNO between customers.

"I hate you," he says everytime Zitao lays down a draw four card. Zitao always somehow got the best cards while Kris was stuck with a handful of plain numbers. The world just does not like him.

 

It's Christmas Eve Eve, the last day of the season. No more farm until next November, and Kris has mixed feelings about it.

He was glad to be going home, and he wasn't going to see Chanyeol's face anymore. At the same time, the farm has grown on him and he was going to miss sitting around with Zitao all day, which is probably what makes him the saddest.

It's half an hour until closing, and Zitao is sweeping the building one last time. He's softly singing a Christmas song Kris doesn't recognize. His voice is quite good and Kris is really enjoying listening to him.

When he finishes, Kris claps a bit. "Nice," he says.

Zitao blushes. "I barely realized I was singing out loud, sorry."

"It's fine," Kris says as the other boy sits down next to him. "I can't believe it's over."

Zitao nods. "We had a pretty good season. A wild one, but good."

"Mhm," Kris agrees.

"Are you...coming back next year?"

Kris thinks it over for a bit. "Maybe. Do you want me to come back?"

"Uh, uh." Zitao's sputtering. "It doesn't matter, you know, if you want to."

"Okay. Then I will," Kris grins. It's quiet for a moment before he speaks again. It's the last day, he might as well confess. "Remember when I said half the reason I agreed to look after the farm this year was because I have a lot of free time?" Zitao nods, his eyebrows crinkling in confusion. "Well, what if I told you the other half was because I wanted to see you?"

A smile comes across Zitao's face. "What if I told you the other half of my reason for working here was to see _you_?"

"Then that would make me kind of happy," Kris says, looking down at the floor and feeling extremely embarrassed all of a sudden.

Kris glances at the other shyly, and is about to finally make his move when there's a sudden BOOOOM outside so loud the building shakes.

Zitao screams and Kris jumps so bad he knocks his stool over and falls onto the floor. He jumps up as quickly as he can, grabbing Zitao by the arm. "What the hell is that?!"

Through the window, he can see nothing but a mixture of smoke and orange glow. An explosion, maybe? Wanting to see for himself, he starts to head out with Zitao, who is slightly whimpering with fright, trailing behind him cautiously.

Of course, it's CHANMAS TREES. The whole farm is up in flames. Chanyeol is on his knees at the edge of the road in front of the massive fire, screaming with his hands in the air. Zitao gasps and the two of them runs towards him; Kris doesn't like the guy but he likes to think he's not a bad enough person to just leave him there to possibly die in a fire.

"Chanyeol! What happened?" he yells over the roar of the flames, but the other either doesn't hear or ignores him.

"KYUNGSOOOO WHYYY," he screams to the night sky.

For a moment, Kris thinks Kyungsoo is dead but then he sees a tiny outline against the flames walking towards, and as it gets closer he can see that it is indeed Kyungsoo, who looks unharmed.

"I'm doing this for your own good!" he shouts at Chanyeol. Kris is surprised; he didn't think Kyungsoo had emotion. "This tree farm has consumed you!"

Chanyeol screams again. "WHYYYY MY TREES ARE RUINED."

"I COULDN'T CONTINUE TO LIVE LIKE THAT." Kyungsoo's screaming as well now. "I'M NOT A BAKING MACHINE, CHANYEOL."

"Should we call the cops or something?" Zitao whispers into Kris' ear.

"Eh, someone else will sooner or later," Kris answers back and Zitao nods.

"Hot chocolate?" he suggests and Kris grins.

"Sounds good," he says.

They walk, hand in hand, back across the road, leaving Chanyeol and his burning Christmas tree farm behind. Zitao was right, Kris thinks. This season was a great one for Wu-nderful Christmas Trees.

**Author's Note:**

> happy (rly early) holidays, everyone!!


End file.
